Excise duty on alcohol is to rise by six percentage points above inflation from midnight on Sunday in a bold effort to curb Britain's steadily increasing drinking habit, the chancellor revealed yesterday.

Duty on a pint of beer will rise by 4p, on cider by 3p, on a bottle of wine by 14p and on spirits by 55p. After that, duties will continue to rise by two percentage points above inflation in each of the following four years.

The move is unlikely to have an immediate impact on supermarkets' cut-price promotions, which are close to record lows before St Patrick's Day and Easter, two big drinking occasions next week.

Before yesterday's budget, Tesco, which sells more alcohol in Britain than any pub group or retailer, had launched a TV advertising campaign pushing a cut-price promotion on big-name beers.

The £10 multi-pack "slabs" of canned Fosters, Greene King IPA, Guinness and Stella Artois are on special offer at "two for £16".

The offer equates to 58p a pint on some brands. By contrast, the average price of a pint of beer sold in a pub last year was £2.64.

Two years ago Britain's largest brewer, Scottish & Newcastle, made a formal submission to the Competition Commission complaining that many supermarket special offers were "not consistent with the promotion of responsible drinking". The consumer watchdog took no action.

Three weeks ago, Tesco called for new laws to ban the sale of cut-price alcohol.

The rise in duty is likely to be a big blow for Britain's pub industry, which is in its worst trading period for many years. It is also reeling from the smoking ban.

Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: "The government is punishing all beer drinkers rather than punishing the minority of drunken hooligans.

"Its policy is fuelling Britain's binge-drinking problem by driving people away from beer, out of the pub into the arms of the deep discounting supermarkets."

He claimed the price of some pints could climb to £6.50 by the time London hosts the 2012 Olympics.

The British Medical Association gave the chancellor's move a warm welcome. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of science and ethics, said: "These tax increases may be unpopular with some members of the public but we hope that they will look at the wider issue and recognise that the UK has a real problem on its hands regarding alcohol misuse. Tough action is needed."

Despite steady rises in alcohol consumption in Britain, the country's 57,500 pubs have been losing out for years. The share prices of the major pub groups have at least halved in the past nine months, and pub closures are running at about four a day, according to the BBPA.

Beer industry leaders believe beer sales in supermarkets and off-licences will overtake those in Britain's pubs for the first time this year.

Treasury figures show the chancellor has calculated that additional duty will add £400m to his purse by April 2009, and a further £1.13bn in the subsequent two years. This makes it the biggest revenue-raising measure announced yesterday.